J&J, GV back a new single-cell approach for tackling inflammatory diseases and hacking the tumor microenvironment
Most biotechs trying to tackle inflammatory disorders like IBD or attempting to boost the potency of immunotherapies for cancer have focused, logically, on targeting, blocking or redirecting immune cells.
J&J, GV and Northpond Ventures, though, are backing a company with a different approach, seeding UK-based Mestag Therapeutics with $45 million to explore whether drugging fibroblasts — the cells that create and form the body’s connective tissue — can help get at the underlying mechanisms that let tumors evade the immune systems and keep patients with diseases like IBD in a constant state of inflammation.
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